Persona: Militant's Valor
by faver1987
Summary: Seth White and Sam Reed are two veterans finally returning home after years in the field. Yet, even after they return home, they are greeted with even more fighting, this time against the evil known only as the Shadows. Together, they shall try to overcome a force that threatens to overwhelm their city, and the people they care for within it. (Co-written and edited by Sethfavor.)
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Hey guys, (and possibly females). How's it going? You probably don't know me, unless you are a fan of really, really bad crossover fics and have read one of those that I've published. (Seriously though, if you haven't read them, don't. I'm doing this for your sakes.) **

** So, for those of you that are curious, this is going to be an OC-centric fic with no ties to the actual games, as far as I have planned. Maybe a reference here and there, but other than that, nothing. Please feel free to review with criticisms and all that. I love hearing other people's opinion on my work. Even if you tell me I'm shit. With that out of the way, ON WITH THE NEW FIC THAT WAS AN OLD FIC BUT I DECIDED TO REDO EVERYTHING AND JUST START OVER AND WHY ARE YOU STILL READING THIS JUST READ THE ACTUAL CHAPTER K THANKS BYE.**

_August 1, 2013 7:15 PM_

_Fort Gordon Military Base_

**?'s POV**

"It really is your last day, huh. I'm gonna miss you, Sarge." Private Johnson said. He came up and shook my hand.

"I'm jealous. I still have a year and a half until I can go home again."

"Don't worry, Johnson. I'm sure you'll make it back." I put a hand on his shoulder in a comforting gesture. Johnson had just got out of boot camp, and it wasn't hard to see how nervous he was. I kinda felt for him. We were alike in a lot of ways. He was drafted a couple of months back, and it was obvious that this was his first time away from home. The worst part was, he was still posted at the base where boot camp was held. I was kinda worried that he would crack if he went to the front lines, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

"Thanks, Sarge. I'm sure you have other goodbyes to say, though. I'm just keeping you at this point." He shook my hand, and with one last goodbye, I left.

I walked around a little while longer. I talked to no one, as I had already said my goodbyes, despite what Johnson believed. I walked over to the barracks that I had occupied on my first day in boot camp. I watched the newest batch of recruits for a while, reminiscing about the time that Allen got so drunk he vomited on the floor, then passed out in it when the Drill Sergeant forced him to clean it up. That was the highlight of my time in training, as well as the one thing that caused Allen to be the butt of all of our jokes for years.

I spent so much time walking and staring at the buildings, reminiscing, that when the alarm on my watch went off I literally jumped in surprise.

"Oh, shit! I gotta go!" I said to myself as I took off at a run towards the fence where I knew that the bus that was set to take me to Athens, the closest city with an airport to the base.

"Name?" The man driving the bus asked.

"Seth, sir."

"Well then Seth, glad to have ya on board. Ready to go home?"

"Yessir. It's been too long already." I smiled nostalgically.

**?'s POV**

"See ya, boys! I'm goin' home!" I exclaimed.

"Well get the hell out of here and leave us in peace for once, dammit!" Private Wesley spoke up.

I turned around and showed him a stunning view of my middle finger.

"That's not very nice of you, Sergeant."

"And I ain't a very nice person, Private. Got anything else to bitch about?"

"No, sir." He said meekly. I crossed my arms in front of my chest and smirked at him. That shut him up good.

"Good. Now, I'm gonna leave for the bus." I turned to the rest of the men in the barracks. "Remember guys, don't get killed out there. You'll make me have to come back and fetch your sorry asses!" I couldn't help but laugh at the collective look of distaste that passed through each of their faces at the thought of me returning.

"I really am gone now. See ya." I saluted, and then left.

I walked around for a little while, not really looking at anything in particular, then made my way over to where the bus was loading to take the newest set of veterans back home. Surprisingly, I wasn't the only one who was almost late. There was another man talking to the bus driver. I walked over to them, and managed to catch the back end of their conversation.

"Name?"

"Seth, sir."

" Well then Seth, glad to have ya on board. Ready to go home?"

"Yessir. It's been too long already."

They hadn't noticed me standing there yet, so I seized the chance to observe them a little. The one named Seth was of particular interest to me. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I was sure that I had seen him before, somehow. I pushed the thought out of my head for the moment and took stock of his physical appearance.

He looked to be about 6 foot tall. I couldn't distinguish anything else about him from the distance that I was at. I guessed it was time to get in there and find out for myself. I walked up to them as casually as possible. From this much closer perspective, I could tell the one named Seth had grey eyes and dirty blond hair. His hair was disheveled, as if he had been wearing a hat for the last few hours and just now took it off. He had a slightly pointed nose and a slight cleft chin. I noticed some 5 o'clock shadow over his face. I could just tell how many chicks he was picking up with that nonsense. I was spot-on with my prediction of height, with him coming up to my chin.

There was something about him that just seemed all too familiar, even if I couldn't point it out. I started talking, the bus driver completely forgotten.

"Hey man, you goin' home today?" I smiled as warmly as I could.

**Seth's POV**

"Hey man, you goin' home today?" I turned to see a very tall and kind of intimidating man smiling at me. He had to have been at least 6' 7", judging by the fact that he was a head taller than I was. He had bright green eyes, straight brown hair that hung down into his eyes, like he hadn't gotten a haircut in months, and was pretty muscular. I swallowed a little before responding.

"Yeah man, and you?" He chuckled to himself.

"Yeah, gotta get on the bus." He turned to the bus driver. "You the one taking us home?" He went over to the bus driver, who was very short, and only came up to his chest, and ruffled his hair. "You don't look tall enough to operate the petals, small fry. You sure you're up to this?" He grinned again.

The bus driver gritted his teeth in annoyance. "I'll be alright. Thanks."

"Alright, then. Let's go!"

As we got on the bus, I asked him the most simple question I could.

"What's your name?"

"I'm Sergeant Sam Reed. What's yours?"

"I'm Sergeant Seth White."

I noticed that there were exactly two empty seats, right next to each other.

"Looks like you're stuck sittin' with me, Sam."

"That's a'ight. It's not like I have very many friends here anyway." He grinned.

I shrugged off his comment. He probably didn't have very many friends, especially if he treated everyone like that bus driver. He came and sat down in the seat next to me.

"A'ight then. LET'S GET GOIN' HOME!"

Surprisingly, the entire bus exploded into cheers with his yelling. The bus driver looked extremely irritated for a second, and then smiled. The excitement of the passengers was pretty infectious, after all. I caught myself getting louder and more excited, just like the rest of the crowd.

After the initial cheers died down, the occupants of the bus sat back and began preparing for the 4 hour drive ahead of us. I sat back and relaxed. I looked over to my neighbor, who was presently looking out the window at the base that we had just left.

_Well, if I have to spend the whole ride home with him, I might as well try to be friendly to the guy. _

"So, where are you from?"

I nearly jumped in surprise. I didn't think that he would talk to me at all, much less try to start up a conversation.

"Well, I'm from a little town not far from Athens called . It's a little place where everybody knows everybody. My cousin is the sheriff there, and other than him, I have no real family. I've set up an apartment for when I get home, and that's where I'll live for a while."

"So you have no one waiting for you other than your cousin?"

"No, I joined when I turned 18, and I was the oldest of all my friends. I've kept in contact with them, and none of them ever joined along with me, to my knowledge. They must be seniors in high school by now."

"Wait a minute, how old are you? Your friends are seniors NOW?"

"I made friends a couple of grades below my level. And I'm 21, thank you."

He put up his hands in a mock sign of surrender. "You win, I'm sorry!"

"How about you? Where are you from?"

His face darkened.

"I...don't remember."

"You don't remember? Why? How?"

"Well, I just remember waking up in the medical tent one day with the doctor saying that I had taken a blow to the back of my head. I was just a Private at the time, so it wasn't like there was anyone who knew my name or face."

"Well, there's a pretty easy way to find out who you are. Just look at those records you had to provide when you enlisted."

To this statement, he actually chuckled. "I would, but I must be the unluckiest person in the world. It turns out that all of the files for the area where I was assigned were kept in a computer system that got a virus and was completely wiped."

"Really now? I hadn't heard of that happening before."

"Yeah, I know. The higher-ups decided to keep it on the down low because they feared that soldiers would panic and do something stupid because no one would know who they were if they came back injured or worse. So the entire event just passed over."

I looked at him with mild suspicion. "So how did you come about this knowledge?"

"The medics tried to look up my information in order to see if I couldn't take any medications. I just happened to be awake when they couldn't get it through a computer and called in a couple of officers to explain the problem."

"Oh." I was somewhat regretful for being suspicious of him, it wasn't like he had done anything to warrant it. I shrugged it off and continued talking. "So, you have nowhere to go after we get to ?"

"Naw."

"That's too bad."

We sat in uncomfortable silence for a little while. I felt that I should have offered him a place to stay or something, but I wasn't even entirely sure where I would go to live once I got back to my hometown. I had lied about having an apartment. I had no idea where I was going to go after I got home. More and more time past while we just sat in silence. It wasn't much longer before I saw Sam's head start to loll off to one side. As I watched him struggle to keep awake, I started to feel really tired myself. My eyelids grew heavy, and before I knew it, I had joined him in the realm of sleep.

Instead of the usual black void that accompanied my sleeping hours, I was greeted by a rather realistic dream. I was standing in a huge, black room, or at least what I assumed was a room. It was so black I couldn't tell. I stood in one place, waiting for something to happen, like I was expecting something. Time seemed to stretch on for an eternity, until I noticed a bright light seeping from one corner of the room. I turned to look at it, and was faced with one of the strangest sights I had ever experienced, even in my dreams. There was a sky blue butterfly radiating light all around the room. Dumbfounded, I just stood there, staring at it. Then, in an effort to stupefy me even more, it spoke.

"**I am Philemon. It would do you well to heed what I shall say. You shall soon be thrust into great peril against an enemy unforeseen. When that occurs, you shall need to summon the power of your inner self. When you see that inner self, do not fear. Your own power shall set you free. Remember that."**

And with that, my vision darkened until I could see nothing more.

**MOAR Author's Note: To JudgementTH: You're welcome. And thank you. To everyone else: Please review and all that jazz. Also, there are polls on my profile if you feel like that. I have no other real announcements, other than that I'll most likely be authoring fics across multiple series, including Fire Emblem and Pokemon, so look out for those. Also, if you are still interested in reading this, I'm not entirely sure when the next chapter will be. Maybe the dark magic will come and help me create another chapter fairly soon. That would be pretty wacky. Anyways, see ya!**

**P.S. By the way, 4 AM upload time is the most magical part of the morning. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Hey guys (and possibly females)! I'm back with another chapter! The almost consistency with my pumping these out is quite impressive for my standards. It's almost scary. So, I have decided to respond to whatever reviews I've gotten at the start of the new chapter.**

**Doom Marine 54: Don't worry, I have no intentions of doing either of those things. OC fics that tie themselves in unnecessarily annoy me, and I have a plan for the ex-military thing that doesn't have them being overpowered. If anything, it might end up becoming a weakness. Or not. Whatever you want to believe. But no overpowered OCs, I promise. **

**Review if you feel like it. Or not. Just remember, for every time you don't review, one Sam cries in the corner. Now then, ON WITH THE CHAPTER!**

_August 1, 2013 10:45 PM_

_Bus Heading Toward Athens_

**Sam's POV**

I awoke suddenly, gasping for air. Looking over, I saw Seth doing the exact same thing.

"You all right, man? Don't die on me now!"

"I'm fine. I just had the weirdest dream, though."

"Really now?" I smiled. Listening to him go on and on about some stupid dream he had just a second ago was sure to take my mind off of the one that I just had. "Well then, let me hear it."

"Well, I was just standing there, in a black room, with no light at all. I waited and waited, wondering what was supposed to be happening."

I was struck silent by what he was saying. This was already sounding eerily similar to my own dream.

"So I stand there for ages, when all of a sudden, some kind of glowing blue butterfly comes out of nowhere. And the weirdest thing was, it spoke to me! Told me something about 'summoning the power of your inner self', whatever that means. Crazy, right!"

I chuckled nervously. "Haha, yeah. Crazy." This was too weird to be a coincidence. I had the exact same dream just a few moments ago. What should I do about this? I decided that the best course of action would be to just tell him about it.

"Yeah, and you know the weirdest part? I had the exact same dream just a second ago."

He shot me a strange look. "Really now? You're not shitting me?"

"No."

"Fine then, I'll test you. What did butterfly-man say his name was?"

I remembered that part easily. "Said his name was Philemon, for what it's worth."

Seth's eyes widened. "So we really did have the same dream." He looked troubled. "I wonder what this means."

"You know what, the only thing it probably means is that somebody behind us brought in the wacky tobaccy, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

Just then, like an omen from the Elder Gods to save me from the awkwardness that was filling our conversation, I saw that we were rolling into a pretty busy looking bus station.

"Huh, look at that. End of the line. Let's go, Seth."

He and I grabbed our bags and prepared ourselves to step off of the bus. As we got out, the people around the bus cheered and whistled at the newest batch of veterans returning home from the front lines. I could feel myself getting embarrassed. I never really was one for large amounts of attention. I looked ahead at Seth, and he seemed to be enjoying it. I wished that I could have been so happy. Instead, I was almost shrinking back into the collar of my uniform, and there wasn't even a collar to begin with.

"Oh, crap. Please, just stop." I muttered to myself.

Just then, Seth happened to turn around and see what a sorry state I was in.

"Hey, guys! Clear a path, why don't ya?! My buddy here's not looking to hot!"

Almost immediately, the applause died down and a pathway was made for Seth and I. I looked at him with pure gratitude and followed him into the bathroom.

I took some time to wash my face and say my thanks to Seth.

"No problem man. I know that it probably must have sucked if you aren't a fan of attention."

"Listen. I'm alright now. If you want to go on and go back to your hometown now, that's fine. Thank you for everything."

"Wait. Do you have anywhere to go?"

**Seth's POV**

I immediately saw the reaction that I predicted. He shuffled around uncomfortably.

"In all honesty, no. I have nowhere to go."

I should have known that. After all, he couldn't remember where he was from earlier. I highly doubted that he had anywhere picked out to go to now. I felt kind of sorry for him, in a way.

"It's alright, Sam. You can come with me for a while. The people in Lakeview are really nice, I'm sure you'll like it there. Plus, it might be nice to have another person around to help with the rent."

He looked up at me with excitement, almost like a little kid.

"Really?"

"Sure, let's go."

"Thank you so much, man. You don't know how happy I am to hear you say that. I'm sure I'll enjoy it there."

We left the bathroom and headed out the front of the building. All the time we were walking, I was mentally bickering back and forth to myself. I kept telling myself that it was the right thing to do, and that I was doing him a huge favor. Still, another part of me kept telling me that I didn't have a place for ME to stay yet, and that it would be doubly hard to find a place for him too in a town as small as Lakeview. Still, I did it, so I was stuck with him.

"Can I tell you something?"

He turned to look at me. "Sure, what is it?"

I rubbed the back of my neck. "Well, the truth is, I kinda...don't have anywhere to stay."

"What? You're kidding me, right?!"

"Sorry, man. It's true."

I briefly saw his eyes light up with annoyance. Then, as quick as it had come, it disappeared.

"You have a little bit of your military pay on you, right?"

"Yeah, but not really enough for any big purchases."

"Alright, then here's what we are going to do. Looks like you'll have a chance to room with me early. We'll pool our money and rent a two-bed hotel room. That should be easy enough, around here. Then we'll figure out what to do in the morning. Sound good?"

I looked up at the huge digital clock that was outside the bus station. It read: 11:45.

"It's getting late." I remarked. "Looks like I have no choice, do I?"

"Not if you want to sleep tonight."

It took us a little while to find a hotel, even with the abundance of hotels the city of Athens had. It seemed that we had picked a popular day for tourists to visit for our return. So, after walking around for what felt like forever, we finally found a hotel with an open two-bed room, The Knight Inn.

The building was older, but not necessarily run down. The outside was a strange shade of beige, and looking at the rooms, seemed kind of small. I guessed that this was more of an obscure hotel. We walked into the front office and I took a glance around. To our left was a service counter with a bored looking receptionist behind it. The walls were the same color as the main building outside, and to our right was an old-fashioned fireplace surrounded by comfortable-looking chairs.

Sam walked over to the receptionist and muttered a greeting. She glanced up at him inquisitively.

"One two-bedroom suite, please."

"We could save you a bit of money if you weren't so cold, _lover boy._" She quietly laughed at her own joke. Sam, on the other hand, had a look of pure animosity plastered across his face. Admittedly, it was pretty intimidating. She must have thought so too, because she quickly picked out keys and hurriedly gave them to him.

"You only want one night, right? That'll be $84."

Sam said nothing as he took out his wallet, paid, and snatched the keys out of her hand.

We promptly turned around and left, and I pulled out $48 and handed it to him.

"Thanks." He muttered.

"So, lover boy. I hear that-"

"I will straight up punch you in the face."

"Alright. But I do have something important to tell you. I'm not going to lie anymore. I don't actually have an apartment or anything of the sort set up."

After I said it, I felt a little better for some reason.

Sam glared over at me.

"Hey, I let you follow me back to my hometown! You didn't even have that earlier! I'm allowed to screw up a little!"

He snorted. "A little would be forgetting what time you are supposed to be picked up. This is a lot. Do any of your friends even know that you're back in the country?"

I was about to retort, but the more I thought about it, the more unsure I was. Did any of my friends even care enough to know? I'm sure I told them over the phone at some point that I was coming home. Did they just forget about me?

"Honestly, I dunno Sam."

An awkward silence permeated the air as we went into the room. Over to our left was a small kitchen area with granite counter-tops, a coffeemaker, a refrigerator/freezer and a toaster. The walls were painted a bright red, and the bedspreads were red as well. There was a corded, wall mounted telephone on one of the walls. We both took showers, and Seth kept refusing to look at me.

"I'm going to bed."

"Me too. Night."

"G'night Seth."

_August 2, 2013 8:42 AM_

_The Knight Inn_

**Sam's POV**

I awoke from my dreamless sleep. For a while, I just sat there in bed, savoring the feeling of having a soft bed for the first time in recent memory. After sitting there, dozing, for about ten minutes, I decided to get up and discuss with Seth what we were going to do about getting to Lakeview.

I rolled out of bed and onto the floor, causing a crashing sound that not only seemed to jolt Seth awake, but also cause a commotion in the room downstairs. I sprang up and saw Seth sitting there, with disheveled hair and all, staring a hole through me.

"Ya need something?"

"The hell was that! I was trying to sleep!"

"We'll probably have to check out soon anyway. Coffee?"

"Yeah, sure. Just give me a minute to recover from the HEART ATTACK!"

I chuckled at his reply while I walked into the kitchen area and started to fill up the coffee maker with water.

"So what are we going to do about getting to Lakeview?"

He didn't reply at first, instead he struck a pretty humorous looking thinking pose and sat there in his bed.

I shrugged and left him to that while I poured ground coffee into a filter and turned the machine on. I was in the middle of adding more water to it when, all of a sudden, Seth clapped loudly and shouted something about him having "GOT IT!"

I jumped from the sudden noise, which caused hot water to spill all over me.

"THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!?"

"PLENTY OF THINGS, BUT THIS ISN'T ONE OF THEM! I FIGURED OUT HOW TO GET TO LAKEVIEW!"

"REALLY?! THEN LET'S CONTINUE THIS CONVERSATION AT A REASONABLE VOLUME LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE!"

"SOUNDS GOOD!"

"So what is your idea that is so revolutionary that you need me to spill hot coffee water on myself in order to express how great it is?"

"You know how I said that my cousin was the sheriff of Lakeview?"

"Yeah?" I didn't know exactly where he was going with this. The sheriff seemed much to busy to come and get us.

"Well, when I called him a while back, he gave me a special number that he wanted me to call when I got back in the country."

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THIS EARLIER!"

"I forgot, okay!? At least I remembered now!"

"Whatever. There's a wall mounted phone over there." I gestured over in that general direction. The coffee was finished, so I grabbed two mugs out of the cupboard and filled them up with coffee.

"You take anything in your coffee?

"Nah."

"Good, it's not like we have anything to add to it anyway." I chuckled.

I poured the coffee and handed him his mug. Then, I just sat down and listened to their conversation.

"Hey, Drake! Been a while. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I know. I know. Oh, about 9 hours. Yeah. Knights Inn. Yeah. It was alright. Really? Thanks so much! I have something else to tell you. Oh, really? I know you're busy. Okay, you'll find out when you get here. See ya."

"So when will he be here?"

"Bout an hour."

"Got anything to do until then?"

"Yeah, I'm starving! Time to get some real food!"

Admittedly, that sounded really, really good right about now. So I grabbed my stuff and we headed over to the nearest restaurant. It was a typical American diner, complete with stained glass walls and silver-lined tables and stools.

"So, what is Drake like?"

"Well, I haven't been back since he was promoted, but from what I've heard from my friends, he's the typical 'good ol' boy' sheriff. You know, knows everyone, helps out even when he isn't on duty, well respected, that type of thing."

"Ah, sweet. Do you think he'll like me?"

"I dunno. You and I seem to be pretty similar, and he liked me a lot growing up. So you should be fine. Just mind what you say. He is legally allowed to pull his gun on you, ya know."

I laughed loudly at that. "Haha, alright, I'll keep that in mind. Oh, here's our food!"

We sat in silence for the rest of our meal, eating pancakes and sausage. After we paid our bill and left the restaurant, a black and white police car with "Lakeview Sheriff" printed all over it pulled up. The door opened and a man stepped out wearing mirrored shades. He was about 5' 11", with a slightly pointed nose and cleft chin. He wasn't overly muscular, but was still large enough to be able to pull people to the ground. He had a red face, like he had been sunburned one too many times and a big smile on his face.

"It's been way too long, cuz!" He hugged Seth pretty tightly, and Seth returned the hug. I stood behind Seth and shuffled awkwardly. I guess he must have opened his eyes underneath those sunglasses, because he quit hugging Seth and looked me up and down.

"Who's this?"

For some reason or another, I jumped to attention like I would if a commanding officer entered the room.

"I am Sergeant Sam Reed, SAH! I am a friend of Seth's, SAH!" My hand snapped to my head in a formal salute.

Drake must have thought that I was some kind of professional comedian, because he started laughing so hard I was afraid he'd blow out one of his lungs.

"There's no reason to be so formal, man. I'm Drake, proud Sheriff of Lakeview. As long as you don't get into trouble, we'll get along just fine."

I couldn't help but throw out one more formal salute.

"Thank you, SAH!"

"Well now, you'd better get in the car. We got a bit of a drive ahead of us back to Lakeview."

I climbed into the backseat of the car, which was screened off from the driver and passenger seat. Just then, I was overcome by the strangest feeling, like I was going where I needed to be. And the only thing I could think of for a brief moment was that blue butterfly.

**MOAR Author's Note: So, another chapter finished. I must say, four AM upload parties are so magical, that we must rejoice whenever they occur. But it's over now, and I'm sad. Good night, all. :(**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Hello guys (and possibly females). How are you all? Listen, I'm sorry for not uploading when I was supposed to, but between job loss, family members having strokes, and taking care of said family members, I've been pretty busy. I've tried to make it up to you guys with the chapter, though. Please read, review, and enjoy.**

_August 2, 2013 9:08 AM_

_Sheriff's Car heading to Lakeview_

**Seth's POV**

I hopped into the front seat of the car, eager to talk to my cousin for the first time in months. The seats behind us were screened off, obviously to hold those who had been arrested and keep them in line. The car's interior was grey, with a special computer hooked to the dashboard to provide real-time updates with what was happening. Drake also had his gun stowed in his car, since he probably didn't need it to chat with us. Speaking of which, Drake got behind the wheel and drove off. We pulled onto the main drag of road that connected Athens to the highways. I soon realized that we had almost an hour's drive ahead of us, and that I should probably make some sort of small talk.

"So when did you get promoted, Drake?"

"Aww, it wadn't too long ago. Say about 6 months. People say that I'm a good sheriff, so I don't need anythin' else. But that don't matter to me. I wanna know what happened to you over on the battlefront."

"Umm, sure. Well, did I ever tell you 'bout Allen?"

"Nah."

"Well, he decided to slink off during basic training and go get wasted at a nearby bar. So, in the midst of the night, he comes out of nowhere, so drunk that he can't even tell where he is and passes out right on the floor. Then, it just so happened that our Drill Sergeant walked in and saw him vomiting on the floor. So the Drill Sergeant forces him to clean up the vomit, somehow making him come to his senses enough to do it. Then, and this is the best part, he vomits more and passes out in a puddle of his own vomit and saliva! The Drill Sergeant never, ever let him hear the end of that one."

I looked back, and while Drake seemed to find this story extremely humorous, Sam seemed unimpressed. Whatever, different strokes for different folks. Drake had taught me that phrase.

"Hey Seth. Aren't you forgetting something?"

"What? I can't think of anything."

Instead of saying anything, Sam drew a triangle in the air and right under it, a shape that looked somewhat like a square.

_'What does that mean? Triangle, then square? Like a house? Wait. OHHHHHHHH.' _I thought.

"Drake, do you know of anywhere that we could live for cheap? Neither of us have very much money, nor anywhere that we know of to stay."

"Sure, plenty of places. Probably your best bet would be talking to Mrs. Jensen about the old house she has on her property. You remember her? "

I took a second to reminisce. Mrs. Jensen was a kind lady who was there for Drake and myself all through our childhood. She was always there for us and even helped us through the loss of our parents. God, that's a painful memory, even now.

I pushed the thought out of my head and turned back to Drake.

"Yeah, what about her?"

"She has an old house on her property that is in disrepair. If you ask her, I'm sure she'll let you live there, provided you do something for her."

"Oh, that sounds perfect!" I turned back to Sam. "See, I told you I had it covered!"

"Yeah, after you decided to call in someone who was busy actually doing real work and bothering him enough."

"I will straight up punch you in the face." I turned back to Drake.

"While we're at it, d'ya know where we can find a car or truck?"

"Sorry, but no. I don't really keep up wi' much outside my own cars, in terms of that stuff. Sorry."

"That's a'ight. One more thing?"

"What?"

"You know where the old gang is?"

"The old gang? You mean those kids to you used to go hang with sometimes down by the creek? No idea."

I'd been with Drake long enough to know when something was up. And something was definitely up.

Most of the rest of the ride was spent in silence, with just an occasional question or two. Another twenty minutes, and we were starting to pull onto lanes with signs marked 'Lakeview' over them.

The radio suddenly started to buzz and the computer went haywire with noises. Drake looked at us apologetically for some reason, then muttered something into the radio receiver. We sat in silence for a little while, until Drake spoke up again.

"Listen, you guys. I'm gonna have to take y'all to the station. I don't know what you should do from there on out, but I have work to do. Sorry, Seth. I'll see ya when you get set into a house, okay?"

I smiled at him. "It's fine, Drake. Thanks for coming and getting us." Sam remained silent.

**Sam's POV**

_August 2, 2013 10:23 AM_

_Lakeview Sheriff's Office_

We pulled into the sheriff's office, which is where I assumed Drake was called. He pulled into a special space marked 'Sheriff Only' and got out of the car. Seth and I followed suit.

I looked at the building in front of the car. It was brick, with small, white columns holding up a slab of marble saying 'Lakeview Sheriff's Office'. There was an automatic, sliding glass door as an entrance. The building was two stories tall, and had a deputy out front waiting for Drake to enter. There were rows of windows on each wall, some of which sported bars over them. I guessed that those were the prison cells. Drake spoke up, ending my inspection.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye for a while, Seth. Sorry we couldn't spend a little time together before I was called back in to work." He shook Seth's hand, then gave him a quick hug. Then, he turned to me.

"And as for you, I don't know you very well, but you seem nice enough, and Seth trusts you. So I guess I will too. Take care of yourself." He shook my hand as well.

Drake went to enter the building, but right as he was approaching the door, he turned around and shouted at us.

"Hey, how 'bout you come back around 6 and I'll treat you returning veterans to drinks!"

Before Seth could even respond, I shouted back, "Sounds good. See ya then!"

Judging from his look, he wasn't quite happy with the way that I hadn't even let him voice his opinion. I shrugged it off.

"So where are we off to now?" I asked.

"Well, we need to find somewhere to live, so let's go and ask Mrs. Jensen about the house."

Seth turned down to the main street, and I followed. I looked up and down the business district, seeing what kind of stores were in this small town.

The sheriff's station, and across from it, an old armory, sat on one end of the street, nearest to the road that entered the town. Next were a theater and a courthouse, followed by some sort of curiosity shop and a bar with the name 'Theodore's' on a sign over it. Next came a some sort of card shop and a dry cleaners. Following that was a diner with a sign that read 'Ray's' overhead and a fire station. Next was a gas station that had nothing of interest and what looked to be a small hospital or clinic across from it. Next, we walked across a pretty large bridge that spanned a nice looking river. I would've loved to fish there sometime. Surprisingly, there was more across the bridge. To my right there was a fast food place called "Sloppy Joe's Grab N' Go" and a clear space. Across the road was a general store type place called "Richard's Goods" and what looked to be some sort of coroners office or morgue. We walked to the clear part of land, and to my surprise, Seth turned.

"Where are we going?"

"Mrs. Jensen's."

I continued to follow him, even though I could almost assure him he was wrong. To have two houses meant that you must have a lot of land. There could have been no way that so much land was here.

Seth continued to walk, holding onto his stuff and led me to an old-fashioned style two story home with a porch. The entire house was painted white and had a sort of regal air surrounding it that I couldn't explain. On the porch, there were rocking chairs and tables. Seth walked right up to the door and rang the doorbell. To my surprise, a pretty healthy looking lady answered the door. Sure, her hair had whitened in places and she had wrinkles, but she still stood at least 5' 6" and had her hands on her hips in a manner that spoke to her annoyance to be bothered.

"What do you two want? I'm very busy, and I..."

She stopped upon seeing Seth and gasped.

"Oh my God. You're here." With that, she threw herself at Seth and hugged him tightly. Seth returned the hug gingerly. It seemed that he was afraid of hurting her.

"When did you get back?"

"Yesterday."

She broke off the hug and looked at me.

"Who's your friend?"

I stepped up and saluted to her.

"I am Sergeant Sam Reed, ma'am."

"Well then, how about you boys come in for some tea?"

Seth accepted before I could react, and we went in. Mrs. Jensen brought us some tea that smelled faintly of mint, and she and Seth sat down and started talking about the past. By that point, I had heard enough about Seth's past and just completely ignored them both. Instead, I took a look around her home. She had a large grandfather clock that dominated one wall of the room we were in. The others were covered in pictures of what looked to be her and her husband, as well as some miscellaneous photographs. The walls were painted about as white as the exterior.

"Let's get to the problem at hand." Seth seemed to have moved on to something I cared about. "Mrs. Jensen, we have nowhere to live, nor can we find an apartment anywhere close to here. Drake told us that other house on your property isn't being used. Is there any way we could buy it from you?"

"Oh, there's no need to buy it. I'll let you have it for free."

"Really?! Are you sure?"

"Sure. Right now, it isn't worth anything to me anyway. As long as you pay for repairs and utilities."

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Jensen!" Seth quickly got up and gave her another hug.

"Now, now. The house is in really poor repair. Most of the internal stuff is alright and works fine, but the roof is bad and the outside will take a while to fix up." Noticing Seth's dejected look, she added, "Now, don't look so down. Y'all can stay here until you have it fixed up."

I was flabbergasted. She was so nice! I could see if it was just Seth, but she accepted me too! A complete stranger!

She got up and hugged Seth once again. Then she turned to me.

"You've gotta hug me too, now."

I gingerly wrapped my arms around her. To my surprise, she felt way more solid than she looked. She looked at the clock.

"Now, I hear y'all have a meeting with Drake in a little while. Y'all better get going."

We both thanked her one more time and left.

_August 2, 2013 5:47 PM_

_In front of Sheriff's Office_

We arrived at the sheriff's office with about fifteen minutes to spare. Rather than waiting outside, Seth and I agreed to go in and see if we could find Drake. The inside of the building was pretty drab, with bleak, grey walls and filing cabinets everywhere. We were told that Drake's desk was in the very back, so we headed back in that direction. When we arrived, we could hear Drake arguing with someone.

"I don't care! One of my deputies got attacked, and we need to figure out who attacked him!" Drake's voice somehow echoed down through the entire room.

"Yes, sir." We saw a thin man in a deputy's uniform scurry out and run for his desk.

We walked in and greeted Drake. He looked tired, but still happy to see us.

His office was grey. That was very prevalent throughout the entire room. He had a wooden desk in the center of the room, but that was covered in grey files and surrounded by grey filing cabinets. There was a grey and black chair in front of his desk for visitors and a black one behind it for him. He had two windows, one on either side of him, that streamed in light for the otherwise drab room.

"What was that all about?" Seth asked.

"Do you really want to know?"

"Honestly, yes."

He sighed.

"Alright."

**Drake's POV**

_August 2, 2013 10:24 AM_

_Inside the Sheriff's Office_

I walked into the building after saying goodbye to Seth and Sam. I wore a scowl on my face in an attempt to make my feelings of being called in, especially when I specifically requested not to, known. I muttered a greeting to the worker at the front desk, a woman that one of my deputies must have hired. I wasn't concerned with that at the moment. I marched straight to my office and slammed the door closed.

I scowled at the three people in the room. These were the ones that called me in. Two deputies were standing, with their backs to my desk. Another was sitting in the chair in front of my desk, cradling his head in his hands. The two deputies standing up were Fightmaster and Briggs. They both were hard workers, and had been with me at the station through thick and thin. That didn't mean that they wouldn't call me in for something stupid, however. The deputy in the chair, however, was a new guy. I vaguely remembered hiring him just a few weeks ago. His name was Palmer.

"What is it? I swear to God, if it's some kind of cat in a tree I will strangle all three of you!"

Judging by the look on their faces, this was no laughing matter.

"The best way to explain it is to show you, Chief." Fightmaster gestured towards the deputy that was in the chair. "Just try talking to him."

"Deputy, what's wrong with you?"

He just stared up at me. His eyes were unfocused and he was really pale. I was taken aback. This could end up being serious.

"Palmer, are you sick?"

The stare continued.

"Did someone do this to you?"

To my surprise, he actually spoke. Well, more like stammered.

"I-i-i-i-it s-s-said t-that i-it would c-come back if I told a-anyone."

"Who's he?"

It seemed that was all I was going to get out of him. Anytime I asked him anything from that point onward was met with groans and him shaking his head.

I turned to the other two deputies.

"When and where was he found?"

"He was found on the road into town if you're coming from the Coban ruins." Briggs said.

I sighed at the mention of the ruins. They were an eerie reminder of the first people to inhabit this area. For some reason, they had a huge amount of strange occurrences attributed to them, even when the town was first established. It was said that many people were murdered, went insane, or committed suicide right in front of those ruins. And with that kind of stuff happening, urban legends started to spring up and people were more and more uncomfortable with the ruins existing.

"Listen, until we know more, don't tell anyone about this. You guys are going to work with me on this case privately. We don't want this getting out and causing a panic. Investigation starts first thing in the morning."

They both nodded their understanding, then they both left, taking Palmer with them.

**MOAR Author's Note: I don't really have anything much to say down here. Umm, four AM upload party is so much fun. It fills me with love. (Damn you, Seth!)**

**Also, I have a new idea for a Fire Emblem fic that might be put in motion pretty soon, so keep an eye on that if you want to. Alright readers, please read and review, and next time I'll try to be less morose when I decide to write. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: What's up, guys (and possibly females). Soooo... I didn't keep up with the chapter a week thing for very long, did I? Ah, well. Just in case you were wondering, my stroke-inflicted family member has finally stabilized, and the job search is going well. In other words, MOAR CHAPTARS! Well, I've bored you enough for today, so ON WITH THE CHAPTAR!**

_August 2, 2013 6:01 PM_

_In front of Lakeview Sheriff's Office_

**Sam's POV**

"So that's what happened." Drake concluded. "Now, y'all have to promise me that you will not speak of this to anyone. Are we clear?"

"Yes, Drake." Seth said.

"Crystal." I replied.

He looked at us strangely, just for a second, then began walking out.

"You comin' or what?"

_August 2, 2013 6:08 PM_

_Theodore's Bar_

I quickly glanced around as we entered the bar. It was a pretty typical-looking establishment, with a brown wooden counter to our left, and some tables and booths over to our right. There was a wide variety of different types of liquor and wine on the bartender's side of the counter, and some patrons on the customer's side. The entire place was covered in neon signs for differing brands of alcohol. The paint underneath the signs was brown, matching the color of the stools and booths.

Drake led us to one of the booths, and we all sat down. As soon as we sat, some kind of bar worker walked up to us. She was about 5' 9" and rather slim. She had straight, brown hair that came part of the way down her back and brown eyes. She was wearing a collared, white, button up shirt and a yellow skirt that came down to her knees as part of her uniform.

"Hey, Drake. Who're your friends?"

"Ah, hello Diana. This is Seth, my cousin. And the tall one over here is Sam." He gestured to each of us as he spoke.

"'Lo, gentlemen. Can I get you anything to drink?"

"Three of the usual." Drake spoke.

"Anything you want, babe." She winked at him and laughed at her sarcastic comment. It was obvious that those two had known each other for a while. She walked over to the bartender's counter and got three drinks ready.

She walked back and handed us the drinks, some kind of mixture of rum and...something. I wasn't exactly sure what.

"Well, bottoms up, guys." Drake said.

_August 2, 2013 8:05 PM_

_Theodore's Bar_

**Drake's POV**

Several hours and many drinks later, or so it seemed, and Seth's face was extremely red, and his words were starting to slur. Sam seemed to be faring better, but he seemed to be losing some of his inhibitions.

As if proving my point, Sam leaned over and whispered, "Dude, Diana. No offense, but I'd totally tap that."

Seth seemed to hear him and sniggered. "Oh, I'd do more than that."

I could feel my face heating up.

"That's..."

"Oh, look at 'im, he's red!" Sam was laughing hard now.

"Can we change the subject?" I must have somehow had more tolerance to alcohol than these guys, because I still felt pretty normal. That or I might have had less to drink.

"TO FREEDOM!" Sam stood up and yelled, causing everyone to yell something or other back.

Just as Seth was about to stand up and add something else, another voice popped into the conversation.

"So these are the so called 'men' that pass for soldiers these days, huh." The voice was surprisingly feeble and shaky, starkly contrasting to the words that came out of the man's mouth.

"What did you say?" Sam's voice was low and threatening. I looked over at him. His face was completely devoid of expression, and the sparkle in his eyes from the alcohol had faded completely, replaced with a steely, unfriendly glare. Seth looked pretty much the same, but still seemed to sense the shift in mood and was quiet.

"You heard me, I said the military now is full of nothing but sniveling cowards and wusses." The voice belonged to an older man who was sitting at the table right beside us. He wore a green collared shirt and khaki pants. His white hair (or what was left of it) was combed down in an apparent attempt to hide his balding.

Sam turned to him and growled, "Could beat your ass any day, old man."

"Now, now. There's no need for violence, Sam." They ignored me and kept talking

"Now, I obviously cannot fight you, too old. Coulda kicked the living shit out of you back in my day, though. Here, how about we have a little wager then, to prove you are as brave as you so obviously think you are. If you stay in the Copan ruins overnight tonight and come back here tomorrow, I'll concede that you are braver than I ever could've been and pay you $150. Deal?"

Sam pushed his way past Seth and glanced back at us.

"If my buddy comes too, will you pay him?"

"Sure, take as many people as you'd like. Won't help you!" He giggled to himself.

"Deal."

The old man looked stunned for a moment, then grinned.

"See you tomorrow, then."

Sam turned to Seth.

"Come on. We have to show this old bastard what we're made of."

They both got up, left some money on the table, and left. I followed. I couldn't let them go to the Copan ruins by themselves, especially after what happened to Palmer.

"Guys, I don't want you to do this, especially after what happened. Can you just swallow your pride and not?"

"After what that old fuck said? Hell no!" Sam was clearly angered.

"Alright, then at least let me come with you. Just so I know you two will be okay."

"Sure, the more the merrier."

"Okay, then let's meet back here with our stuff in about 30 minutes. Sound good?"

They both nodded. In the cooler night air, Seth seemed to have sobered up quite a bit and was able to keep up with the conversation again.

"I'll see what we can do. Ms. Jensen may be able to help us out." He said.

_August 2, 2013 8:46 PM_

_In front of Theodore's Bar_

I arrived a little early, so by the time they came, I was sitting around, waiting. Somehow, they had acquired sleeping bags, and if the bulges at their right sides were what I thought they were, guns from Ms. Jensen. She never ceased to impress with her generosity.

"Here, let's get going. I just want to get this over with." I said.

I had found a ton of old camping equipment in my garage from my younger days, and a lot of it was still intact. I had a tent, three high powered flashlights, and a couple of canteens with me. I gave Seth and Sam each a canteen and a lantern, and instructed us to be on our way.

We said very little as we walked down the dirt road that led to the abandoned excavation site. I guessed that everyone was quieted by the strange, unwelcoming air the entire place gave off. It certainly felt like the site of countless suicides and murders.

We stepped off of the main road, and made it to the actual site of the ruins within minutes. Seth and Sam stopped and stared in awe. The ruins consisted of a ring of massive stone pillars, with one at the very center and 6 others surrounding it. All of the pillars were covered by strange engravings and glyphs. On each one there was what looked like a square door cut out of the rock, yet the door was closed shut. Surrounding the entire thing was rusted excavation equipment and huge construction machines, like a crane.

"What's this? A door?" Seth asked, indicating to the square, door-shaped indent in the rock.

"When they were first excavating this place, they found those doors. Apparently, they were sealed in a way that if the excavation team broke in, the pillar would collapse. So they just left it alone. And before you ask, no, I have no idea why they just left the equipment here."

We circled about the ruins for a while, taking in the sights.

"I think we should camp near the middle pillar, with the road in front of us." Sam said.

"Why?" I asked. "Wouldn't it be better to be next to the road?"

"No," he said. "If there is something out there, then we need some kind of cover to hide behind if we hear it. If we were next to the road, then we would be out in the open."

"Sounds reasonable enough. Then, we set up camp here. By the way, do you honestly think the guns are necessary?"

Seth pulled out a pistol that I recognized as a Tac .45 military issue pistol, and Sam unholstered his Beretta 9mm pistol.

"Better safe than sorry."

"Ms. Jensen is too kind. But how exactly did she get those?"

"Dude, these are 'souvenirs' from the military."

"Oh." I guessed by the way he emphasized 'souvenirs' that his weapon was probably pilfered out of some cache somewhere.

We ended up setting up our tent right in front of the middle pillar, and right beside the door thing to boot. No more words were spoken between us as we set up sleeping bags, turned out the lanterns, and got ready to sleep.

"G'night, guys." Seth said.

"Night." Sam said.

"G'night, you two." I said.

We all seemed to drift off to sleep very quickly, as I heard them snoring almost immediately. Pretty soon, my eyelids became too heavy to keep open, and I joined them in the realm of sleep.

Within my dream, I had the strangest sensation of floating through nothingness. I couldn't even describe it, but it was something like flying, but without the wind in your face. So I floated for what seemed like forever. Suddenly, a blue butterfly floated across my field of vision.

"**Greetings, young one. I bear important information that you would do well to heed."**

Now I was really confused. How was the butterfly speaking? I shrugged it off as dream logic.

"**Tonight, you must unleash the power of your inner self. No matter what it may be, you must accept it. It could be the strength of a hero of legends, or the ravenous hunger of a demon, but you must realize that it is only a part of your inner self. If you do, then it shall protect you from whatever is to come. Remember this, Drake. Now, you are needed in the real world. Goodbye..."**

I awoke with a start. '_What the hell was that?' _ I remembered thinking to myself. I looked at the other two in the tent, and saw that they were fast asleep. I smiled, and laid back down. It was only a dream, right? _'Now, if only I could get this headache to go away, I'd be great.' _There was a throbbing in my right temple that just seemed to come out of nowhere.

Thinking this, I started to feel my consciousness drift off again, when suddenly Seth, then Sam, jumped out of their sleeping bags. I was so surprised that I ended up jumping to my feet.

"What the hell, guys? I'm trying to sleep here!" I said.

"Sorry, Drake. Seth, I had that weird dream again. With the butterfly man!"

"Really! So did I! According to him, something big is going to go down tonight."

"Wait, what?! I thought that was some kind of nightmare from bein' around all of the booze and smoke of the bar for too long! You sayin' you guys had it too?"

"Yeah, multiple times. Which means that whatever he was trying to warn us about involves you too, Drake."

"Yeah, I guess. Wait, what the hell was that!"

We all froze. Then it came again. Some sort of scratching sound echoed from our right.

"Sam, what's to our right?" Seth asked.

"Nothing, but..." He trailed off.

I realized what he was going to say even before it came out of his mouth. I even joined in.

"The door in the ruins."

**MOAR AUTHOR'S NOTE: So, that's another chapter finished. And we all know what's coming up next. There might just be some head shooting goodness in the next chapter. Probably not, but whatever. You'll just have to wait and see. Anywho, please drop a review if there is anything you would like to say. I do shoutouts, you know!**

**Also, my name is faver18 or faver1987 all around the internet, so if you see me, please stop and say hi! I'll bake you cookies! Alright, see ya next chapter, guys!**

**Four AM upload party happened yet again, and it was glorious. Yet it sucked at the same time. Whatever, it was magical while it lasted.  
**

**P.S. Shoutout to WolfieRed23, for taking the time to PM me. You have a fan in me, brother (or sister)!**


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